This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day three together of our look at 1 Corinthians 3. We're talking this
week about what to do when Christians don't act like they should, when they
start to act worldly, when they start to act like the things of this world are
more important than the things of Christ. And today I want to address a very
important and for some of us a very, very meaningful subject.

And that is, what do you do when somebody starts acting worldly? Maybe they're
in the business world and they start to give up their integrity. Maybe they're a
friend of yours in the neighborhood and you see that they're using tricks to try
to get ahead.

They start to act this way. They start to act worldly and the world, because
they like worldly, starts to pick up on it. And actually it does seem to begin
to look like they're getting ahead in the world.

And so this Christian who's acting not Christian because they're willing to go
out and get drunk with people at the end of the day, or they're willing to cut
this integrity away from a deal so that they can make a better deal, all of a
sudden they get the promotion and you don't. All of a sudden it seems like
they're gaining blessings from God that you're not. What do you do when that
happens?

You see, many times the squeaky wheel gets the grease and when it comes to
Christians who are not acting Christian, the crying baby gets the milk. So what
do you do then? You do this third thing that Paul talks about in this chapter.

You realize it's not all about here and now. So number three, you look to your
eternal reward. If you live for the here and now, you're going to get more and
more worldly because the world is all about the here and now.

But if you want to act more and more like Jesus, you're going to live like he
lived. And he looked to the cross, passed the cross to the eternal reward of us
being with him forever. And Paul says that's the same thing that you and I need
to do.

Look to your eternal reward. Listen to what he says in verses 12 to 15. If any
man builds on this foundation, remember the foundation is Jesus, if any man
builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or
straw, the work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to
light.

It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each man's
work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned
up, he will suffer loss.

He himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Now, what
do these verses mean? They mean three things I want to talk to you about for a
few moments.

Number one, what we've built into our lives that will last will be rewarded.
Number two, what we've built into our lives that will not last will be lost. And
number three, whatever our rewards or loss as believers, our salvation is
secure.

What we've built into our lives that will last will be rewarded. But we've built
into our lives that will not last will be lost. Whatever our reward or lost, our
salvation as believers is secure.

And it's all built on this day that Paul talks about in verse 13. What is this
day? If you look at it in most Bibles, it's capitalized.

It's talking about the day of judgment. He's referring back to what those in
Corinth had read in the Old Testament, this day, the day of the Lord, the day of
judgment that is coming. And a day of judgment is coming.

A time of judgment. A time of judgment for both unbelievers and for believers.
The Bible talks about both.

The Bible talks about a day of judgment for unbelievers, which is called the
Great White Throne Judgment by some. That's the day where you stand before God
and hear that because you did not trust Him, you would depart from Him, be
separate from Him for all eternity. That is a judgment of separation from God.

There's another judgment, and that's the one that these verses focus on, a
judgment for believers. Now the word judgment is a difficult word to use here
because most of us think that judgment involves punishment. But a judgment can
also be something good.

You can get a judgment in a trial and all of a sudden you've got a huge amount
of cash in your bank that you didn't have because the judgment was favorable to
you. The second judgment, the judgment for believers, is called by some the Bema
judgments from the Greek word Bema, which means judgment seat or seat of reward
actually is the idea. And the best picture you and I would have of this seat,
this place, is at an Olympics where you see the three Olympians standing up on
the three platforms being rewarded with medals.

It's a time of reward. Those who did not win the race are not standing at that
place of reward. Those who did win the race are getting incredible rewards
because of the way they've invested their lives.

There's a judgment here, and this judgment Paul pictures as a fire. But it's not
a fire of separation from God. It's not a fire of punishment.

Notice it's a fire in these verses that tests the quality. It's not testing your
skin. Your life is testing the quality of what you built into your life.

He says some build with gold, silver, precious stones. Those things, fire does
not destroy those things. In fact, it just tempers those things.

But he says others build into their lives with wood, hay, and straw. Fire, poof,
they're gone. Some things in our lives are like wood, hay, and straw.

They may look nice, even impressive, but they will not stand the test of
eternity. There are a lot of things in this world that will not last beyond this
world. Absolutely.

You have a lot of things in your life that won't last even beyond this year. Now
we need a house over our head. We need certain things to survive.

But if I spend all of my time and energy in getting a bigger house or more and
things to impress the people that are around me, all I'm doing is adding wood to
the bonfire as I head into eternity. Even with a house, by the way, I can use
that house to impress others for my own pride, or I can use it to influence
people for good. In the end, we will see what is truly important.

In the end, we will be rewarded for what we've built into our lives that truly
lasts. Someone asked me about this. Are we going to be embarrassed in the
presence of Jesus at the judgment?

No, absolutely not. The Bible says we're going to stand before Him blameless in
many places. You can't stand blameless and be embarrassed at the same time.

We all know that we could be embarrassed in the presence of Jesus because we
know our own sins, we know our own hearts, but that is not what this judgment
for believers is all about. As believers, John 5 tells us that we've already
passed out of judgment into life. Romans 8 tells us that there's no longer any
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So we do not give an account to God that will involve whether we'll be saved or
not, and we do not give an account to God that will involve whether we're
ashamed or not. Yet the New Testament clearly tells us here we're going to give
an accounting. There is going to be a judgment.

What's it about? It's about rewards. It's about rewards that will be gained or
rewards that will be lost.

If you have invested in that which will last, there is a great reward in that,
and every little investment in that which will last, you'll be rewarded in that
in this moment and rejoice in that. If you've invested in that which will not
last, if you've invested in that which will burn away, you'll be saved. But
Scripture says, "As through fire.

" Everything that you thought you were going to carry into heaven with you, it's
just burned away. So the motivation for this accounting, it's not guilt. It's
not the possibility of shame because all of us as believers are going to stand
unashamed in God's presence.

The motivation is greater glory to God by my investing in that which will bring
praise to him for all eternity. Now what is this gold and silver and precious
stones? How do I invest in that kind of way?

Well let's boil this all down. You want to build that which lasts? Let your
motivation and whatever you do be love.

How you use your house, how you use your car, why you bought your house, why you
bought your car, even those things that are everyday things in life, the meals
that you have, the everyday common things. Let your motivation for the things in
this world be love. The Scripture tells us in 1st Corinthians 13, we're going to
get there later, that love is eternal.

It always lasts. I don't know about you, but there are all kinds of reasons I do
what I do. The motivation that will last through this life and into the next is
the motivation of love.

You see, you can even be doing very spiritual looking things, but the motivation
is pride. And maybe it blesses others, the ministry that you're doing. But for
instance, if I'm teaching you right now and my motivation is pride, what do you
think of me?

My motivation is pride. What do I think about myself? You might get blessed by
my teaching, but what I'm doing is just going to get burned up.

I want my motivation to be love because I love the Lord and I love you and I
love the opportunity together to look at God's Word. Nothing will ignite your
life like remembering God's love for you and asking him for the strength to love
others. That's what you build on.

That's what lasts. Let's talk to him for a few minutes right now. Jesus, I want
to build on what lasts.

Forgive me for those times when I get caught up in myself, when I get caught up
in my stuff, when I get caught up in what doesn't last. Whether it's by
comparing or because of my pride, forgive me. And Lord, motivate me.

Motivate me by your love to build on love in my life. Help me to grow in that.
Just a little bit each and every day of my life.

A little bit more deeply in love with you and a little bit more building on love
in my life. I ask this, Jesus, that this would happen today. I ask this in your
name.

Amen.